School Board fires teachers for having sex on campus

The Palm Beach County School Board unanimously voted Wednesday to fire two teachers at H.L. Watkins Middle School for having sex on campus with Heath Miller, a former band teacher now awaiting trial on charges of sexual assaulting and molesting students.

Board members Paulette Burdick and Bill Graham were not present for the vote.

District records show that both teachers admitted to having sex with Miller, who is married. But one of them told school investigators that Miller raped her.

School investigators dismissed the woman's claim, ruling that no physical evidence existed. They also wrote that the woman did not file any police reports or complaints against Miller.

When a sexual assault is alleged, the Sun Sentinel does not publish the name of the victim.

Miller's contract was terminated by the Palm Beach Gardens school in April, four days after his arrest. He faces multiple charges of abusing students and tampering with evidence and witnesses.

Investigators have said Miller also had affairs with at least three women, at times taking part in sexual encounters on school grounds.

According to district records, the second teacher fired Wednesday, Amber Schmeider, told investigators the sex was consensual and that it happened twice on campus with no students present.

Neither teacher was at Wednesday's meeting, and there was no discussion by the board.

Both teachers are suspended without pay effective Wednesday and will be terminated effective March 18.

Meanwhile, Miller's friend Franklin King, a band-booster parent, was in court Wednesday after being charged in 2007 with molesting a 15-year-old girl from the time she was 11. The teen was not a band member.

King's lawyer argued Wednesday that the detailed confession King gave a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office detective should be suppressed because he wasn't adequately advised of his right to have a lawyer present. A judge did not rule on the request.

In the statement, played in court, King acknowledged a variety of inappropriate sexual contact with the teen.

Detective Lori Gunn, who elicited King's confession, asked him: "What would you do if she told her father or boyfriend?"